


Winter

by beeptoast



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, I wrote Tsubaki so whipped in this, I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not sorry, M/M, mentions of food, references to bad parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28318170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeptoast/pseuds/beeptoast
Summary: He supposed it would be would be worth a chance.
Relationships: Hinata/Tsubaki | Subaki
Kudos: 1





	Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hello it's me again (as I shout into a void of like, 2 people maybe) !!  
> How totally unpredictable that I'd end up writing a Christmas fic for Tsubaki/Hinata haha am I right /s  
> I wanted to get the whole fic ready for Christmas but because my parents raised a procrastinator I didn't get to finish it on time. I wanted to at least publish half of it on Christmas though, so here we are! The second part will be published within 1~ week. I hope so, at least  
> Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and happy Holidays to those who don't!! Hope you all have a nice day regardless

If he had to be totally honest, Tsubaki never particularly liked winter.

Due to the weather getting way too cold during this time, he caught a fever more often than he would've wanted, and while the pure white snow lying everywhere looked aesthetically pleasing sometimes, he didn't enjoy the rain coming right after the day it snowed, turning the snow into mud and making it so hard to walk without getting your shoes dirty. 

And there was one other reason.

Christmas.

He never liked to show or admit it, as it was obvious so many people loved it, and would rather not have their mood soured.

But whenever the time came where people started playing Christmas songs at all places, it just made him remember memories he did not want to think about.

Even if it seemed laughable now, his parents telling him that Santa Claus had never been a real person and that he should stop wasting his time with nonsensical things like these when he had been _just_ 6 years old never left his mind. Of course, maybe they had a point with that statement, but.. somewhere, deep down, he wanted to be praised for his efforts just once.

Christmas felt like a day as any other in their household. Barely exchanging any words, all of them pushed the strangely cold food into their mouths every time.

With these thoughts resurfacing on his consciousness, he didn't know what to say when Hinata suggested that they celebrate Christmas together this year.

"Pretty please? It'll be fun!" His voice was loud enough to startle Tsubaki a little bit.

But before the redhead could even search for a response, Hinata started talking again, "I know you celebrated it with your ma and pa all the years before, and I actually would've asked if I can go with you but, uh, well. They hate me," his boyfriend looked down at the wooden floor.

Tsubaki wanted to argue back, but couldn't find the words to do so. The last and also first time they had met, he remembered Hinata going completely quiet after Mother made a remark of how senseless his efforts were if he didn't try hard enough at school in the first place, with Father nodding next to her. He usually never got like that, so that comment must have taken a toll on him quite badly. He hated that fact.

"Sorry," was what he said, instead. Tsubaki didn't dare to look at Hinata's eyes. 

Hinata immediately let out a little snort and stretched his hand over the table to stroke Tsubaki's cheek, prompting his lover to look at him. The callousness he felt surrounding his skin was familiar.

"What are you apologizing for? You don't have anything to do with it," the brunet smiled, "I just thought it'd be nice if we could celebrate it this year together, but if you don't want to, that's ok too! It's just… couples spend time together at Christmas too, you know," he said, a faint redness noticeable on his cheeks. 

Tsubaki thought about it for a moment. For the 3 years they had been together now, Hinata met up with his friends he knew since childhood or celebrated with his family for christmas. It probably had been lingering on his mind for these years, too. 

He couldn't even say that he really celebrated it with _his own parents_ with a 100% certainty, either. All he did was asking what Father and Mother were up to this past year, and keeping them up to date with his studies. Overall, Tsubaki assumed that the time he spent driving to their home and to his apartment was longer than the actual gathering itself. The redhead returned to his desk with the books and due essays lying there immediately after.

It was not like he felt totally lonely because of it, though. Whenever Hinata sent him pictures of his christmas parties over chat, his face always unconsciously lit up seeing how much fun his boyfriend seemed to have fun by the way he grinned. The message's were often full of exclamation marks too, which, to be fair, wasn't unusual for Hinata's messages, but nevertheless, it always brought a smile to his own face.

Even if Tsubaki didn't like Christmas all that much, he supposed it would be worth a chance celebrating it with Hinata. If only to see him wearing that bright smile like the ones in the pictures again. The smile he adored so much.

After a seemingly long time of debating with himself, the redhead eventually spoke up again, "Alright, I'll see what I can do," he took the hand that had been caressing his cheek in his own palm.

"Oh, Seriously?!" Hinata nearly sat up from his seat due to the shock.

"But no promises that my parents will allow it," Tsubaki suppressed the urge to laugh at his lover's reaction.

Hinata grinned at him, "Still! Thanks for trying, at least." 

Tsubaki simply gave a smile back. 

They returned to eating the pasta in front of them before it got cold. 

After a moment, Tsubaki decided to break the silence with an easy question.

"Just the two of us, though?" 

The brunet looked up to his lover again, ignoring the food for a moment, "Uh, yeah?" 

Tsubaki rested his head on his hand and drew out a long, exaggerated, "Huh."

"...What?" Hinata furrowed his eyebrows, surely aware of what's to come, but still asking.

Tsubaki smirked, "Geez, you're such a hopeless romantic sometimes~" 

Hinata's face immediately flared up at that comment.

"S-Shut up!! I thought because whenever we are together, we are alone most of the time so I thought-" 

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say," Tsubaki quickly interrupted his flurry of thoughts dismissively. 

"I-"

"Love you too," Tsubaki couldn't stop the chuckle coming from his mouth.

Hinata just grumbled in response, giving up on defending himself. He buried his face in his arms. Naturally, he didn't want to show Tsubaki that he got embarrassed by his teasing once again, like many times before.

"Just joking, of course," the redhead leaned over the table to lift his boyfriend's bangs to give him a kiss on the burning forehead. 

Hinata groaned, "Doesn't make it better."

Both him and Tsubaki knew that was a horrible lie. Of course Hinata would forgive him in an instant. Tsubaki wished that he wouldn't take advantage of this fact _this_ much, but couldn't help himself whenever he saw Hinata's flushing face either. 

Hinata was too kind for his own good sometimes.

* * *

The days passed, and the weather only got colder too as Tsubaki wondered how to deliver the message that he'd celebrate Christmas with Hinata this year, to his parents. 

In the end, all it took was a short note over chat, assuming the " _read"_ under the chat bubble could be seen as an approval from Father. He didn't feel really surprised about that silence per se, but he still hoped for some kind of "Enjoy yourself!" message by chance. Knowing his parents though, it could've gone far worse, so he didn't take that complete stillness for granted.

Once Hinata had heard of the news that they could spend Christmas together for sure, he immediately took the chance to decorate Tsubaki's apartment the next weekend he came over. Tsubaki thought it was still a little _bit_ early for them to start adorning his living room with a (fake, as per Tsubaki's request) christmas tree as November had just been over, but once Hinata set his mind to a particular thing, there was no stopping him. Not that he could have voiced any complaints whenever he saw those excited brown eyes in any way either.

"You sure brought a lot of stuff over," Tsubaki furrowed his brows in examination, looking towards the pile of boxes laying on the small carpet.

Hinata smiled in turn and stopped placing the Christmas bulbs on the branches of the fake tree to look over to his boyfriend, "Duh! It's lame when we celebrate Christmas with, like, no lights or a tree in sight."

"December just began."

"Yeah, so what? Gotta get you in the mood," Hinata laughed.

The brunet grabbed a red-colored tinsel that was spread near him in his hands and stood up. He walked closer and closer to Tsubaki, until the redhead felt the decoration hugging his neck, flowing down his body.

Hinata couldn't stop grinning when he saw Tsubaki pouting, "See? Looks great!" 

His pout immediately faded once he heard that laugh coming from his boyfriend. 

"Didn't know you care about fashion all of a sudden," Tsubaki mumbled sarcastically, "Are your parents really okay with you taking this much, though?" he took the bright red tinsel in his hands and tossed it on to the nearby couch.

"Oh, don't worry about it! We have more than enough at home. Aaand I have to make it up for a _certain someone_ not being in the Christmas spirit _at all,_ " Hinata pointed his finger up Tsubaki's face. 

Tsubaki immediately noticed something strange, shortly forgetting Hinata's teasing remark towards his lack of enthusiasm.

His fingers were covered with band aids. Sure, it wasn't strange for Hinata's skin to be full of scratches from time to time (much to Tsubaki's dismay, he may add). But what was strange was the fact that he got _so_ many injuries in _such_ a short time and they were apparently bad enough to warrant wearing band aids all over his palms. 

"What happened with your hands?" Tsubaki asked bluntly. 

Hinata immediately jumped up and hid his hands when he heard that question.

"N-Nothing you have to worry about! I just helped Dad with the, uh.. pipes. Yeah, that's it! So don't even think about it, haha," the brunet let out a nervous laugh as he fumbled.

"And you didn't even set your home on fire? Color me surprised."

"H-hey!" 

"You're still terrible at lying," Tsubaki sighed, "Listen, I don't know why you'd hide anything from me at this point, but I'd appreciate it if I didn't see you with one finger less someday."

Hinata immediately grabbed his lover's hands with his own and looked down at the carpet to avoid eye contact, "...Sorry. I can't tell you the reason yet, but it's nothing serious! Promise. So don't worry."

"All right. I won't ask any further then," Tsubaki smiled, squeezing the calloused hands in his own for reassurance.

"Mhm. Thanks!" Hinata said, giving the redhead a quick peck on the cheek before returning to the half-undecorated Christmas tree and giving him a hopeful look, "Now, help me with all that stuff. Please?" 

"Was about to," Tsubaki retorted, while picking up various Christmas bulbs he thought were pretty.

As the perfectionist got lost in the desire to make the fake tree as beautiful as possible, Hinata suddenly spoke up again, nearly catching him off guard.

"Ah, that reminds me: Did you think of a present yet?"

"Hm? No," Tsubaki furrowed his brows, still concentrating on what ornaments would best suit the branches.

"Then, I want you to cook!"

Now _that_ caught him off guard for sure. Whenever they exchanged presents, Hinata always had given him food he made himself so far, saying that handmade gifts feel even better than the ones you buy from the store. Tsubaki didn't mind either way, but…

"You usually do that," Tsubaki looked down to meet Hinata's eyes.

The brunet smiled, "Yeah, but I've got something else in store this time! Also, it's been so long since I've tasted any of your cooking."

"So, you can choose exactly what kind of present you want, yet leave me no choice with my own? How cruel," Tsubaki said in overplayed sadness.

"Hey, I'm only doing it because you'd end up buying some expensive bath set that'd destroy your wallet in the end," Hinata laughed and pinched his boyfriend's nose, "And you'll totally love my gift!"

"I know," Tsubaki sighed fondly and grabbed the injured hand away from his nose.

Maybe he shouldn't have agreed this quickly, but when he saw the excited look on Hinata's face, he couldn't find the ability to do so. 


End file.
